A waiting list of nearly 1,000 qualified applications for housing or rental assistance, and the numerous accompanied children, doesn't translate to any kind of urgency from local governments to add affordable living spaces.

Officials in each city and the county believe their localities have what they need for low-income residents.

Staunton's planning department has recommended against endorsing several tax credit-funded low-income proposals in recent years. The most recent would have brought 200 apartment homes off Middlebrook Avenue.

City officials noted that Staunton already hosts nearly half the subsidized housing units in the region, although it makes up just 20 percent of the population total of Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County.

"Clearly, the city is already providing far more than its fair share of the region's subsidized housing," read a staff briefing for a Feb. 26 meeting, at which the city council was to consider an endorsement letter for the developer.

The builder, Flatiron Partners, LLC, withdrew the request before the meeting. When contacted, a Flatiron official said the firm wanted to focus on other projects and hadn't done enough market research for the Staunton proposal.

Augusta County, whose population is near twice the two cities combined, is home to the fewest low-income housing apartments at just under 400. Still, the most recent to open have been in Augusta, including Waterford Village in Brands Flat and Montague Terrace in Stuarts Draft with 96 units apiece.

Supervisors subsequently on a divided vote approved tax-credit housing for the Myers Corner area off the recently-opened Lifecore Drive.

The new apartments have caused some local consternation. Board Chairman Michael Shull said many residents from his district in Riverheads complained to him about plans for Montague. During the planning phase, Shull tried unsuccessfully to change its residential zoning so that the builder would have to request the designation and hear from neighbors in a public hearing.

When an application request arrived for another nearby in his district, he and the county declined.

"My people out here didn't want another one in that area," Shull said.

This year, a rezoning application for mixed-use development in Stuarts that would include townhomes came with the proffer that they would not be built with tax credits or subsidies used to lower rents. Developer Chris Foschini, who is also on the planning commission, said he had no plans to make the townhomes low-income.

The proffer reflects a belief among county leaders that Augusta has brought in enough low income housing, Shull said. One of the chief concerns has been opening up apartment complexes that will cost more in education and public services but that are eligible for lower tax assessments than regular units, Shull said.

That results in more homes and people coming in generating less tax revenues, per capita, for government services.

"Supervisors felt like we had enough that were here now without proposing any more low-income development," Shull said.

Augusta is open to more affordable housing developments, but they'd be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, he said.

In the last five years, Waynesboro has turned down endorsement requests from tax-credit proposals on Broad Street and off Hopeman Parkway, said City Manager Mike Hamp.

The one on Broad Street would have been on land zoned for industry.

"Given the surrounding area and the fact that we consider it a commercial corridor, I did not think it was the highest and best use of the property," Hamp said.

The other proposal would have been near two other prominent low-income complexes, and Hamp didn't want to add to the concentration affordable housing units in that part of the city.

"One of the goals of planning and development is to distribute affordable housing opportunities throughout the community," he said. The site was close to public housing, so that area is adequately served, he added.

Hamp doesn't think the local wait list for low-rent apartments and vouchers necessarily means the city doesn't have enough affordable housing. "I'd be interested to know if there are communities that don't have a waiting list," he said.

Rather than judging by whether there's a waiting list, Waynesboro should consider whether the city has a suitable stock of low-income rentals – and it does, Hamp said.

"I think there are numerous affordable housing opportunities in our community," he said.